HOW

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Birthday04/01/49

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windsorje

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John Windsor

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Biography

We have a 2+ year old backyard aquaponic system. Everything I know about fish and plants has come from forums and YouTube. My aquaponics videos can be seen on YouTube if you search HOWponics. I have a lot of experience in construction and transportation.

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Aquaponics, Aquculture

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Lakeland, Fl.

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I don't eat them, but I guess you could if you really wanted to.
I have not heard directly from the university yet, but I got some advise (thru a friend) from a rep of the university. We are told the critter is called a flatworm and it is a parasite, a blood sucker. He suggested we dose the system with salt. Too early at this point to judge the results. We have started physically removing the flatworms to the best of our ability. Pretty labor intensive. We put some minnows in the tanks too, in hope that they will feast on the parasites.

Hey Cecil! Yeah, I'm still playing with aquatics, although I am not very active with posting progress. We got rid of the fish and have moved on to mystery snails. A lot easier, considering we don't do this full time. And I still have the gravel beds, but it is strictly hydroponics now.
I have not heard directly from the university yet, but I got some advise (thru a friend) from a rep of the university. We are told the critter is called a flatworm and it is a parasite, a blood sucker. He suggested we dose the system with salt. Too early at this point to judge the results. We have started physically removing the flatworms to the best of our ability. Pretty labor intensive. We put some minnows in the tanks too, in hope that they will feast on the parasites.
I did just finish building another system, using the old filter system we had used with the aquaculture (talapia in the swimming pools) system. I know you are into tinkering with new stuff, so I'll upload the quick video I made of the snail system. They are air breathers, but I find that they have a healthier shell and good color using the same filtration system I used with the fish. Let me know what you think:

We have been told these are called flat worms and they are "blood suckers." That could explain the snail mortality. Now to figure out how to get rid of them and how to prevent the problem in the future.

We have been having good luck with our golden snails for a few months now, although we are new to this adventure. They are in two closed loop systems (RAS) in the greenhouse, with plenty of shade. Recently, over the last few weeks, there have been too many dead snails showing up in one of the systems. Yesterday I found these tiny leach looking critters in the tanks. I have no idea what they are or if they could be the reason for the moralities. Our facility is in central Florida, if that makes any difference.
Does anyone have a clue what these things are and could they be causing the deaths? Here is a video: 20170124_145207[1].mp4

Posted 22 February 2015 - 04:58 PM
"Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis Mossambicus) or a hybrid with very heavy influence from it. Most likely a female."
So stated by Kellen over 2 years ago. She does, by the way, still live in my RAS.

It is hard to say whether or not the circulation in your tank is sufficient. If the majority of the solids are being removed by the natural movement in the tank, that may be the best you will get with that design. Tanks with squared corners are sometimes difficult to keep clean without some extra effort. I am assuming the layers of solids that are not being removed are in the corners. Those layers can be easily removed with the use of a siphon hose, assuming the water is clear enough for you to see what is down there.
Another alternative would be to place some air stones in the corners to keep the solids suspended.
That is a nice size, deep tank. What are you raising in there? Are you doing aquaponics or just aquaculture? Got any pics you can post for us?

Lol. Hey Cecil! Yeah, I'm still tinkering with this stuff. It is a healthy addiction. I recently became, temporarily, unemployed, so I have more time to feed the beast. My most current fixation has been the hoop house I built to house my duel loop system. Check it out. I trust your system is thriving as well.

All is well at the fish farm. Here's a pic of one of the crop at about 60 days, just before it joined the others in the big tank.
And here is a video of the bio-filter churning with +/- 10.75 cf of AA media.
Okay, I'll edit one in later.